Euclid man sues police, says officer kicked him in face

By The Associated Press

Monday, December 4, 2017

EUCLID >> A black man says in a lawsuit that he was kicked in the face, kneed in the groin and seriously hurt by a white suburban Cleveland police officer recently fired for using excessive force on a black man in another case.

Erimius Spencer filed the suit Friday against the city of Euclid, former Euclid police officer Michael Amiott, current officer Shane Rivera and the owners of the apartment complex where he lived.

Amiott was fired in October from Euclid after dashboard camera video showed him repeatedly punching a different black man during a traffic stop.

A message seeking comment was left Monday for Euclid police. No phone listing could be found for Amiott or Rivera.

Spencer’s lawsuit said Amiott and Rivera were moonlighting as security guards at his apartment building last December when they confronted him in a hallway, asking him if he had any warrants and whether he was armed.

Amiott reached into Spencer’s pocket and found a small amount of marijuana, grabbed him by the arm and shoved him against the wall while ordering him to stop resisting, Spencer said in the lawsuit. Spencer denies he was resisting the officer.

Amiott then kneed him in the groin and shoved him to the floor while Rivera jumped on his back and restrained his arms and legs, according to Spencer’s suit.

The lawsuit says Amiott kicked Spencer in the face when he called out for help and that both officers shocked him with stun guns before placing him in handcuffs.

Spencer was treated for a broken bone in his face.

He later was charged in Euclid Municipal Court with theft, resisting arrest, criminal damaging and drug abuse. Euclid eventually hired a special prosecutor, who dropped the first three charges in September. Spencer paid a fine for the drug charge.

In August, Amiott was put on paid administrative leave following a violent struggle lasting more than three minutes with a Cleveland man he arrested during a traffic stop. He was then fired by Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail in mid-October.

Amiott had been with the Euclid Police Department since 2014. He joined the department five months after he resigned rather than be fired from the Mentor Police Department for lying about why he stopped a man for a suspended license.

His record in Euclid included a number of use-of-force complaints. According to his personnel file, he was reprimanded in 2016 for hitting a suspect with his gun and losing his temper in front of his commanding officer.

In the August incident, Amiott pulled over Richard Hubbard III for passing stop bar pavement markings, which Euclid Police Captain Kevin Kelly had instructed him not to do.

In November, charges against Hubbard were dropped. Hubbard’s attorney, Christopher McNeal, said at that time they were still investigating the facts related to a possible civil suit against the individual officers involved and the city of Euclid.